Monday, August 29, 2016

Vol State Cookeville student registration has reached a record high for all
community college enrollment at the Cookeville Higher Education Campus (CHEC). There
are 1031 students enrolled for the fall semester. The previous high for
community college enrollment was 903 in fall of 2015. Vol State has been adding
some popular courses, including Microbiology, Emergency Medical Services (EMS)
and Mechatronics.

“Things are going
exceedingly well. It’s because of the help of civic organizations, education
partners and workforce partners in getting the word out,” said Michael
Torrence, assistant vice president for Academic Affairs. “They have been behind
us. It’s why our enrollment has spiked. It’s pretty exciting,”

More students creates the
need for more classes. “We’ve been adding multiple sections of courses, including
more in the evening. That’s a good indicator of the popularity of our program,”
Torrence said.

Vol State offers classes at
CHEC through a partnership with Tennessee Tech University. CHEC is located at
1000 Neal Street in Cookeville.

Congrats to everyone in Cookeville and on the main campus for making this happen. And a special kudos to our new Vol State in Cookeville director, Lori Richards.

Monday, August 22, 2016

The student reaction to the new SRB Humanities Building has been exciting. Sure, they spent most of their time on the first day of the fall semester trying to find their classes. But we asked those who did have a moment what they thought.

"It's nice and clean. I like the extra space for students. There's no reason to be cramped when you're learning," said Jordan Belote of Nashville.

"I find it easy to get around and the classrooms are really nice," said Cadie Dark of Hendersonville. She was sitting in the sun and looking out over the plaza as she studied on the second floor. "It's great to have space like this to do homework and stuff."

"It's pretty," Janiaya Turner of Hendersonville said. "I also like the elevators."

The first class for the new group of Honors Students was held in their specially designed classroom, which allows for plenty of discussion and collaboration, hallmarks of the Honors program. And it doesn't stop there. Honors has a whole suite with a study room and offices.

It was an incredible effort by so many to get the new building not only up and running, but looking spectacular. We'll have more on the many people responsible for the first day success coming up soon.

I prepared this blog
entry back in the Spring before I decided I would make this part of my
convocation address. Some of this you
heard already. Some is additional
information.

I just finished reading The
Fourth Industrial Revolution by Klaus Schwab (World Economic Forum,
2016). In the book, Schwab proposes that
we are in the midst of another revolution.
The first revolution was the transition from foraging to farming, the
second the industrial revolution which transitioned us from muscle power to
mechanical power and the third which is usually called the computer or digital
revolution. The book outlines that what
we are experiencing is not merely a continuation of the digital revolution. To support the concept, the author lists
factors such as the exponential velocity of changes, the breadth and depth of
the changes, and the fact that the changes involve the transformation of entire
systems. Schwab cites megatrends in
three main areas of change. First he refers
to changes in the physical manifestation including autonomous vehicles, 3D
printing, advanced robotics, and new materials.
The second area is in the digital realm pointing mainly to the Internet
of Things (IofT). And finally the book
explores innovations in the biological realm pointing to 3D printed organs and
genetic modification as indicators.

Here are some quotes from the book:

· -Already in 2012, the Google Inside Search team
published that it takes about the same amount of computing to answer one Google
Search query as all the computing done – in flight and on the ground – for the
entire Apollo program!

· -The Ford GT has 10 million lines of computer
code in it.

· -The new model of the popular VW Golf has 54
computer processing units; as many as 700 data points get processed in the
vehicle generating six gigabytes of data per car. (I wonder how many are used to circumvent
pollution laws.)

· -More than 50 billion devices are expected to be
connected to the internet by 2020. Even
the Milky Way, the earth’s galaxy, contains only around 200 billion suns!

· -Already last year, according to BMW 8% of cars
worldwide, or 84 million, were connected to the internet in some way.

This is a picture I made of a 3D printed car that was
on display at an innovation conference held in Nashville last year.

All these parts of the fourth revolution will lead to new
ways of doing business and new approaches to wealth i.e. Bitcoin. How companies do business will be drastically
different. From the book:

· -Uber, the world’s largest taxi company, owns no
vehicles. Facebook, the world’s most popular
media owner, creates no content.
Alibaba, the most valuable retailer has no inventory. And Airbnb, the world’s largest accommodation
provider, owns no real estate.

The horizon for these changes is the year 2025. It is interesting that this coincides with
our own state Drive to 55 efforts.

The questions for us are:

· -How will this change the ways we conduct the
business of the college?

· -How will this change the ways we deliver instruction?

· -How will this change the expectations of
students?

· -How can we capitalize on these changes to be
more efficient, effective and above all, more relevant?

After several months of hard work and training, three Vol
State Criminal Justice students- Kaleb Helson, Shawn Marr and Daniel
Layne graduated to become Gallatin Police Reserve officers on Thursday
August 18. They took the police officer oath and had their badges pinned on by
family members. Criminal Justice Director Kevin Cook explains how it all came
about:

For the last three years, students taking CRMJ 1150-Criminal
Justice Career Planning had the opportunity to do mock police candidate panel
interviews with several police departments/officers in our service area,"
Cook said. "Several of our Social Science and Education Division faculty,
including Dean Foley, Angela Neal Brooks, David Fuqua and Rick Parrent, were
panel participants as well. The Gallatin Police Department was one of the
partners on the panel. They were very impressed with our students and invited
them to apply for the Gallatin Police Reserves."

Cook said, this is the third reserve class to graduate with
Vol State Criminal Justice students. Six former Vol State Criminal Justice
students who became reserves have been hired full time by the Gallatin Police
Department.

Congrats to these newest reserves and to the Vol State
Criminal Justice program. And congrats to Derrick Walker, the Vol
State Criminal Justice graduate and Gallatin reserve officer, was recently
hired full time.

The Cyber Defense program has received much attention with it's launch for the fall semester. The Tennessean ran the story recently.

Vol State students traveled the world during Study Abroad trips earlier this year. Vol State at Livingston professor Dr. Girija Shinde led a group to the Galapagos Islands. The Herlad Citizen has the story.

EMS instructor Kevin Alspaugh received a statewide teaching honor recently. Here's the story in the Hendersonville Standard.

Congratulations to Ken Wilber, the Mayor of Portland in Sumner County. He has been named the 2016 Mayor of the Year by the Tennessee Municipal League. There are 346 mayors in Tennessee, so it's quite an honor. Wilber has an associate of science degree from Vol State, which he earned back in the 1980's while he was serving on the Portland City Council. He has served for three terms as Mayor of Portland.

Sunday, August 21, 2016

Fred
Potts, Logistics Technical Certificate Graduate for Spring 2016, received recognition
at the 2016 LGM Advisory Board Meeting as Tennessee Career Center
"Veteran of the Year" for 2016. Fred works at the Kroger Distribution
Center in Portland, and Fred received his award from Bethany Sullivan,
Director of Workforce Essentials for the Tennessee Career Center.

Monday, August 15, 2016

Help us get the word out....especially if you know someone who is looking for a fun way to use their brain this fall for daytime Friday lectures:

KEY Lifelong Learning
Lecture Series

Shakespeare, World War II and
Biotechnology are just a few of the lecture subjects in the KEY Lifelong
Learning Program at Vol State starting in September.
KEY stands for “Keep Educating Yourself.” There are several lectures scheduled
and each has multiple meeting days. The fee to enroll in one or all of the
lectures in the series is $49. The daytime lectures start the week of September
9 and continue on Fridays through October. Everyone is welcome to register to
attend. The topics include: “DNA, GMOs, and CRISPR: Understanding the Alphabet
Soup of Biotechnology and What it Means to You;” The Nature of Creativity and
the Creative Process;” Theories of the Good Life;” “World War II Lectures;” and
“400 Years Later: The Relevance of Shakespeare in Our Modern Lives.”

KEY participants will also learn
about a special opportunity for travel to Ireland with a Vol State group in
March of 2017. The lectures will be held on the Vol State campus at 1480
Nashville Pike in Gallatin. People can register by calling Vol State Continuing
Education at 615-230-3358 or visiting in person at the 300 Building, room 106,
on the east side of the Vol State campus. For a complete list of lecture series
dates and descriptions visit www.volstate.edu/lifelong.

Monday, August 8, 2016

The Volunteer State College
Foundation Harvest Moon Soirée has raised more than a half-million dollars for
student scholarships over the last ten years. The tradition of helping Vol State students afford their dreams will continue on Friday, September 16 at the Bluegrass
Yacht and Country Club in Hendersonville. Organizers are hoping for record
breaking donations to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the event. Tickets are
on sale now. The Soirée will feature a silent auction again this year. A
few of the items will include: lunch with Gallatin Mayor Paige Brown; lunch
with Hendersonville Mayor Scott Foster; a guided wildflower walk; Nashville
Symphony tickets; a handmade cellarette by John B. Garrott; and longtime
contributor, Cresent Fine Furniture, will donate a unique item to the auction.

Writer and humorist Lisa Smartt will
be the entertainment for the evening. The syndicated columnist from rural
Tennessee travels the country telling funny, and inspiring, stories of her
personal weaknesses, struggles, and what she describes as the sheer joy of
daily living. Organizers say she has been popular with attendees at other Vol
State events.

The evening will begin at 5:30 p.m.
with cocktails and the silent auction. Dinner and entertainment will follow. Sponsorship
packages, tables, and individual seats are available through Friday, September
9, while space is available. Individual tickets are $75 each. The returning Titanium
and event title sponsor this year is Sumner Regional Medical Center.Sponsorships
are still available. Please contact Deb Daugherty at 615-230-3526 or debra.daugherty@volstate.edu
for more information. For tickets call the Foundation at 615-230-3506, or visit
www.volstate.edu/HarvestMoon.

Vol State Discussion Board

The Vol State Gallatin Campus

The Vol State Insider is produced by the Office of Public Relations. It's a newsletter blog designed primarily for faculty and staff, although everyone is welcome to view and comment. You can contact us at pr@volstate.edu